Ethiopia’s Tigray region took home the Gold Award with its unique collective action, voluntary labor, and youth-inclusive approach to land conservation. Through Mass Mobilization Campaigns and a Youth Responsive Land Policy, villagers in Tigray contribute up to 20 days per year of voluntary labor towards restoration and sustainable agriculture practices, and youth are provided access to land in exchange for restoring degraded communal lands. Since 1991, soil and water conservation activities have been undertaken on more than 2 million hectares, significantly decreasing erosion in the region.

According to U.N. Water, 40 percent of the world’s population (up to 2.8 billion people) are now living in water-scarce regions. Twenty-five percent of all land globally is highly degraded and fifty-two percent of land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by soil degradation.

Brazil took out the silver prize for its Cisterns Program, which was developed in 2003 and made law in 2013. This program empowers millions of the poor, rural residents to be in control of their own water needs, generate income, and enhance food security by using simple rainwater collection technology.

Read the full article on desertification at Food Tank